Effort of Science to Reach Planet Shown in Animated Drawings
The very latest thing in moviedom is a series of animated drawings made by Max Fleischer of the Bray Goldwyn Studios, portraying the method by which the earth will endeavor to communicate with the moon. For years scientists have endeavored to learn whether some form of life existed upon that planet, but a telescope powerful enough to reveal this has never been built, although they have revealed canals, mountains and extinct volcanos. Recently Professor Goddard of Clark College announced that there was a possibility that the trip might be made from earth to moon by means of a gigantic rocket. Mr. Fleischer's animated drawings will reveal the plan by which the trip may be accomplished. Here are some of the facts concerning the trip which have proved insurmountable obstacles to scientists of the past. The distance from the earth to the moon is approximately 240,000 miles. And the intervening space is filled with ether whose actual composition is unknown, but whose temperature we know declines steadily. In the spacial interstice between earth and moon, the thermometer would be found to register 458 degrees below zero. But even if we grant the feasibility of making a car sufficiently cold proof to withstand the onslaught of such frigidity, we have still to solve the question of overcoming the force of gravity. It has been learned that the pull of gravity lessens as we leave the earth's surface. In fact 213,000 miles from the earth it drops to zero. But at this point, the pull of the moon begins to assert itself. In other words at the 213,000 mile mark, a moon-seeking machine would feel no pull from ether the earth or the moon. But there is another difficulty to overcome perhaps the most baffling of all, before the exploration of the moon becomes a fact. What motive power is strong enough to drive the machine against the earth's gravity? This obstacle may soon be conquered through the harnessing of a new mineral power to the mechanical discoveries of the twenty-first century. Radium is known to possess more energy than any force yet discovered by man. It is said to give off but half its power in twenty years. And it has the advantage over the other known notice forces harnessed by man because of its compactness. A little tube of the precious substance is worth $170,000, but inasmuch as this would be more than sufficient to furnish the 414,000 horse-power necessary to overcome the power of gravity within the 200,000 mile limit, there is hope that some philanthropists with a genuine interest in science might subscribe to the expensive experiment. Through Mr. Max Fleischer and Goldwyn Bray Studios, this possible experiment has been placed on the screen in the form of an animated drawing. The skyrocket itself is shown resting on rollers on the roof of a skyscraper. Then the interior of the skyrocket is presented. Here we find the radium power tank, the engines which operate on the principle of a series of powerful recoils, an oxygen tank, a water tank, the condensed food chest, electric heater, gyroscope, and other necessary pieces of apparatus. Suddenly a flash of flame shoots from the tail of the rocket and the machine flies moon-ward. It is then seen shooting through the ether at the rate of nearly sixty miles a minute, and, because of its speed, overcoming the resisting forces of gravity and the circumjacent atmosphere. Category:News Category:Newspapers Category:1920